The sale and purchase market in both the dry and wet sectors had a dull week with no segment showing much direction.
According to London shipbroker Alibra’s latest report, the chartering market for capesizes and panamaxes continued to come under pressure this week with rates moving lower while it was also an uneventful week for the smaller sizes.
In the tanker sector, rate levels remained low on the crude side as the market has yet to pick up following the summer season.
“Some VLCCs have slowly returned to position lists following the storage boom earlier this year, however with the future of oil demand uncertain and oil contangoes widening, there are incentives for continued floating storage,” Alibra suggested.
More colourfully, analysts at Norwegian broker Fearnleys compared the likely bottoming of the VLCC markets to a day at the beach.
“Try as you like to hold a beach ball under water, but eventually it will pop back up. But, unless you fill it with helium it is likely to bounce along the surface, where we are likely to be for some time still,” Fearnleys noted of the current VLCC markets.
Multiple shipbroking houses reported that German owner Orion Bulkers sold its 2010-built 57,000 dwt supramax bulker Watford while Intermodal identified the buyer as Greek owner Sigalas family controlled Blue Seas Shipping. The Chinese-built vessel has fetched a price of $8.9m.
Both Allied Shipbroking and Intermodal reported the sale of the 1999-built 45,000 dwt handymax bulker Elena Topic. The Japanese-built vessel has been sold to Ukrainian owner DCT Shipping for an undisclosed price.
Several shipbroking houses reported that the 2014-built 45,900 dwt handy bulker Angelic Zephyr was sold by Japanese owner Exeno Yamamizu to Chinese buyers and Allied Shipbroking identified the buyer as Nan Lian Shipmanagement. The Japanese-built vessel went for $14.25m.
Turning to the tanker S&P market, Alibra noted: ”Some interest for tankers this week, although the market is still lacklustre with prices low. Sales focused mainly on the clean side with some MR sales recorded.”
Lorentzen & Stemoco, Intermodal and Anchor Shipbroking all reported the sale of the 1999-built 47,000 dwt MR tanker Lovely Lady. Greek owner Eastern Mediterranean sold the Croatian-built vessel to undisclosed interests for $6.5m.
Both Intermodal and Lorentzen & Stemoco reported the sale of the 2002-built 105,000 dwt aframax tanker Minerva Maya. Greek owner Minerva Marine sold the vessel to Vietnamese buyers for $12.2m.
There has been no secondhand containership S&P deals to report this week.
